You Went Too Far
by RipSlayer
Summary: At the age of seven, Vernon went too far, he pushed Harry into a coma. Three years later Harry is awake, but his aunt is dead, his uncle is incarcerated and he has no home. A Doctor who's wife and son are dead adopts him, but how will science cope with the introduction of magic. T because I'm paranoid
1. Sleeping Beauty Awakes

**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, I am not JK Rowling**

White, white floors, white ceilings, white walls, white everywhere. That was the first thing Harry Potter saw when he woke up. When he was seven years old his abusive uncle went too far, he hit him over the head with a baseball bat, cracking his skull and causing him to fall down the stairs.

His uncle, Vernon Dursley, had been sentenced to five years in prison, his aunt, Petunia Dursley spent six months in prison (and divorced her husband in the process, realising and recognising her mistakes), his cousin, Dudley Dursley, was sent to a foster home, learnt right and wrong, and was given a diet so he would be in better shape. Harry, Harry was put in a coma, one which lasted three years, two months, and five days. A coma which he only just woke up from.

Harry was now ten years old, nearly eleven, but he had no one to go home to, he'd woken up, and the only people who were with him then were the hospital staff, the nurses and the doctors. The problem with the child was where to put him. Around two weeks after he woke up he was ready to leave the hospital which had been his home for the past three years, but he had no one to go to, no one to live with, no home. His aunt had committed suicide around two months after she was released from prison, she had been going through huge bouts of depression, anxiety and she couldn't find a job, had no money, didn't have a home, she wasn't allowed to see her son, nor was she allowed to see her nephew and apologise for her wrongdoings. She felt that she'd failed her sister, she'd failed her nephew, and she'd failed her own son. She felt no want or desire to stay in the cruel world she'd made so many mistakes in, and took her own life.

Harry obviously couldn't go back to Vernon Dursley, and Dudley's adopted parents couldn't afford to take in another child, though they wished they could have as they felt a lot of sympathy for the orphan. Harry also couldn't go through the foster system, as the doctors were worried that it was too bad for his health, and that he might suffer more from the system and could become unwell.

It was eventually decided that he would stay with one of the doctors who'd been looking after him for the past three years, Dr Reynolds was a distinguished doctor, who's wife had died almost four years ago, whilst she was pregnant with his son. Dr Reynolds had offered to take the boy in and there was no reason not to, and no alternatives either.

Luke Reynolds was a tall man, with neatly cut brown hair, and a tanned face, he had startling blue eyes and a charming smile, one which at the time was not used too much. He might not have sounded like the ideal person to become Harry's parent, but he was a doctor, who could help, and wanted a child, and he was at heart a good man.

He'd been with Harry from the start, from when he was admitted into hospital, to when he woke up, confused and scared. He had nursed Harry back to health, and the two had grown a fondness for each other, Luke finding the son he'd never had, and Harry finding the father figure he needed and desired so much.

Luke, with Harry's consent of course, legally adopted Harry, and Harry chose to change his name to Harry Reynolds, having no desire to have a link to neither his drunk parents who'd died in a car crash, nor for his relatives, which the name Potter reminded him off.

Harry had a private tutor and relatively quickly caught up to where he was meant to be in academics, he was an intelligent child, something which shone through now he didn't have to have the constant fear of Vernon Dursley beating him for doing better than Dudley in school. Luke helped him catch up in what had recently been happening in the world and the two bonded quickly over a mutual love for football. Harry was quite fast, experienced from all the times he had to run away from his relatives and Luke had played for his university's first team, he'd wanted to be a professional football player, but unfortunately bad luck struck and he had a serious knee injury, and his parents had pushed him into medicine and sciences.

Harry stayed in private education, but was going to go to a school in September, as him and his father had agreed that it would be better as he could get friends, and give him a more 'normal' life. It was as he was touring a secondary school the first weird - abnormal - thing in his memory happened. A big, bulky boy probably around two years older than Harry was bullying a smaller, scrawny boy, Harry suddenly started to feel really angry, there was a a large engraved crest above the bully's head, and as Harry got angrier the lion in the middle suddenly roared really loudly, jumping out of the frame and chasing the boy down the hall, before slowly returning and getting back into the engraved crest.

No one could explain what had just happened, and all Harry knew was that, somehow, in some bizarre way he had caused it to happen, however none of the staff realised this, and neither had Luke, however on returning home Harry explained what happened to his adopted father, though neither could understand it both knew something was wrong, Luke's theory was that something strange had happened when Harry was put in the coma, there were small cases of medical marvels, but none like this, however it was the only idea the doctor could think of.

That was the biggest 'odd happening' which Harry had caused, and the first, in the next few months Harry had caused other small abnormal things to happen, he turned someone's hat blue and turned his father's hair pink - much to the doctor's embarrassment and disgruntlement. Neither father nor son could see any reason why this was happening, and only on Harry's eleventh birthday was it explained.

A stern woman with old fashioned clothing had knocked on their door, Luke had let her in and they all sat in the living room. "Are you Mr Harry Reynolds?" She had asked and in response to the "Yes ma'am." had handed Luke a letter, which he and Harry read in astonishment.

"No, no, no, I'm not a wizard, I can't be a wizard, this makes no sense." Harry said in disbelief

"Surely this is just some sort of a hoax, and may I add not a funny one in any way at all." Dr Luke Reynolds told her, annoyed, "Prove it is true and we will take it seriously." Whilst everything in the doctor's mind was telling him that there was no chance this was true, a small, tiny part of him wondered, it did seem to explain the mysterious events which had been occurring, and it did seem like quite an odd thing, that she'd come to their door and known Harry's name, his new name, and it seemed too much of a stretch to be a hoax.

The professor slowly took out a mahogany stick, muttered something and waved it around a bit causing the fire in the room to suddenly light up with soothing amber flames.

"Oh my god." Luke said, this went against everything, everything he believed in and had learnt in his medical career, and Harry would be able to do this, Harry was a, a wizard, a magical person? The doctor wasn't the only one to be in disbelief over this, Harry had his hands in his face,

"Why me? Why can't I just be normal, haven't I gone through enough?" He asked desperately, his voice hoarse, quickly Luke put an arm around him comforting him,

"Hey, its okay, maybe its not a bad thing Harry, maybe this is good, its magic Harry!" Luke said, trying to be excited for his adopted son, but struggling as the information he had just received was overwhelming.

"I don't know, I don't know." Harry said quietly, "I just want to be normal." He stated.

"Mr Reynolds," The stern woman stated, "I am Professor Minerva McGonagall, I work at Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry, magic is a wonderful thing Mr Reynolds, and can be used in the most amazing ways, Mr Reynolds, you are special, you are a wizard, that is most certainly not a bad thing at all."

"I guess," Harry said meekly, "But what are you here for, I doubt you're here to just tell me that I can do magic."

"Astute you are, you are correct, I am here to offer you a place at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, the finest school for learning the art of magic in the whole of Europe, and some say in the entire world."

Harry looked at his father, who nodded softly back at him, silently saying that the decision was all his, and that he would not stop Harry if he wanted to explore this.

"Tell me more?" Harry asked Minerva quietly, politely, interested in the idea, Minerva smiled pleasantly and began to tell him all about the wonders of the world of magic.


	2. The Mysterious Wizard of Oz

**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.. duh**

 **Thank you for all the reviews, favs, and follows :P**

* * *

"Harry, I'm not going to stop you, but are you sure about this?" Dr Luke Reynolds asked his adopted son, in a concerned, but fatherly manner.

Harry nodded slowly, "Yeah, for once, I think this might be a link to why all these weird things keep happening - and I want to be able to control that, whenever I do, I guess whenever I do magic, I feel this, amazing, feeling, I feel as though this is a piece in the jigsaw piece known as Harry Reynolds, and I need to do this." He looked at his father for his opinion, he simply nodded once causing Harry to burst into a smile and hug his adopted father.

"Are you ready Mr Reynolds?" A stern voice asked him, the owner of that voice being the one, the only Professor Minerva McGonagall, Harry looked down at his clothes, some dirty football shorts and a t-shirt with mud on.

Harry gestured to the stairs whilst saying, "Can I get changed first?" The abrupt nod from the professor caused him to sprint up the stairs into his bedroom.

Harry quickly picked out some casual, yet nice clothes and put them on, he then walked over to his mirror, trying to keep his mass of blonde hair down, he sighed - no matter what hair he has it was always a mess! Before the coma he'd had a thick flop of black hair, but - reasons why unknown to Harry - when he'd woken up it was blonde. Then his eyes, the startling blue contacts covering the emerald green eyes. He knew he got those emerald green eyes from his "Drunken mother" his aunt had told him that much, but he didn't want the eyes of the woman who drove whilst drunk and left him alone with his abusive relatives, he had no respect for Lily Potter.

Harry slipped one last attempt to smoothen down his hair, an attempt which obviously failed, Harry then sprinted back downstairs, and excited look on his face as he thought about what was about to happen, his father stood, immediately followed by McGonagall, the three went to the door, Reynolds grabbed his wallet and keys and the three left the Reynolds' house.

Harry pulled out the parchment envelope from his pocket, opening it up to see the list of books and other things he needed for school:

* * *

 ** _Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry Uniform:_**

 **First years will require:** Three sets of plain work robes (black), one plain pointed hat (black) for day wear, one pair of protective gloves (dragon hide or similar), one winter cloak (black/silver fastenings. Please note that all pupils' clothes should carry name tags.

 **Course Books,** all students should have a copy of each of the following: The Standard Book of Spells (Grade 1) by Miranda Goshawk, A History of Magic, by Bathilda Bagshot, Magical Theory by Adalbert Waffling, A Beginners' Guide to Transfiguration by Emeric, Switch One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi by Phyllida Spore, Magical Drafts and Potions by Arsenius Jigger, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find THem by Newt Scamander and The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection y Quentin Trimble

 **Other Equipment:** 1 Wand, 1 Cauldron (Pewter, standard size 2), 1 set of glass or crystal phials, 1 telescope set, 1 brass scales.

Students may also bring an owl OR a cat OR a toad.

 **PARENTS ARE REMINDED THAT FIRST YEARS ARE NOT ALLOWED THEIR OWN BROOMSTICKS**

* * *

"Broomsticks!" Harry said incredulously, "Why would you want broomsticks?"

"To fly, Mr Reynolds, to fly." She replied bluntly as they turned a corner into a dark road with flickering overhead lighting. The red brick walls were graffitied and most people attempted to avoid the 'dodgy' road. There was one pub, a large sign for it reading; The Leaky Cauldron.

"Where are we going?" Dr Reynolds asked, suspicious that a teacher should be leading an eleven year old down a street like this.

"Don't you see it?" Harry asked his adopted father, surprised,

"See what?" Luke Reynolds replied curiously,

"The Leaky Cauldron, the Pub," Harry grabbed Luke's hand and pointed it in the direction of the Pub, causing Luke to look incredulously up at the pub sign, the Doctor blinked rapidly, shook his head then resumed looking incredulously,

"That, that was not there a second ago." He exclaimed enthralled,

"Its always been there, but muggles don't see it, its charmed so their eyes look over it, they 'miss' it." Luke nodded then stopped,

"Muggles, that sounds like an offensive word, be that it is or isn't." He looked at McGonagall harshly,

"It means non-magicals, -" She was interrupted here by Luke Reynolds,

"Yes I prefer that word for it if you don't mind." McGonagall looked at him flustered,

"I apologise if you take offence to that word." She told him, her burrowed forehead still showing that she was a little confused.

"Thank you, now shall we go on." The Doctor gestured forwards and Harry smiled happily before tugging his adopted father along. The three stepped inside the Leaky Cauldron, a big spacious area with stone arches, a friendly barman waved over, "Hello Professor, you got some new students?",

"Just the one today Tom," McGonagall replied, a short smile on her face, she then strode through the pub to the opposite door, quickly followed by the two Reynolds.

McGonagall walked over to the wall, a trash can resting against it, she pointed to a brick and told him, "See, three blocks up and two across from the brick with the hole in," She took a step back, gesturing for them to do the same, she then tapped the wall three times with her wand. The brick in question, seemed to move, it was moving, and the others were around it, the separated to form a parting and formed a large arch, the trash can mysteriously disappearing, tentatively Harry followed McGonagall onto a twisting cobbled street, Luke Reynolds quickly came inside and the father and son looked over their shoulders, watching as it merged back together before their eyes.

"Welcome, to Diagon Alley," Minerva smiled slightly at Harry and Luke's amazement, then Harry really took in what was around him. The sun shone brightly on a stack of cauldrons outside the nearest shop "Cauldrons - All Sizes - Copper, Brass, Pewter, Silver - Self-Stirring - Collapsible" A sign hanging over them read, "You'll need one of those, but you need to convert some money, and get your share from the Hogwarts trust fund first."

As Minerva and Luke entered some discussion, Harry almost wished he was a spider, with eight eyes so he could look at everything at once, they walked up the streets going past all the shops with interesting signs, the people doing their shopping, the plump woman outside an Apothecary complaining about the price of Dragon Livers, the hooting from the Eeylops Owl Emporium.

Several boys around Harry's age had their faces squished up against the window of a shop - "Look!" Harry heard one of them say, "Its the new Nimbus Two Thousand - fastest ever-". There were shops selling robes, shops selling telescopes and strange silver and copper instruments Harry had never seen before. Windows were stacked high with barrels of bat spleens and eels' eyes, tottering piles of spell books, precariously placed on top of each other, quills and rolls and rolls of parchment, potion bottles, globes of the moon...

"This is Gringotts, the wizarding bank." McGonagall informed them, they had a reached a snowy white building, with quartz columns, it had a majestic feel to it, and reminded Harry of the Roman temples he had been studying in history. "That is one of the people who runs it," McGonagall said in a hushed voice, her eyes pointing towards a small creature, with a clever face and a pointed beard, with long spidery fingers and feet. "That's a goblin." Harry and Luke turned to each other surprised, but neither said anything, as they did not want to offend the small creature. They walked up the quartz steps, the goblin bowing as the walked through the large doors, words engraved in cursive writing on them:

"Enter, stranger, but take heed, of what awaits the sin of greed, For those who take, but do not earn, Must pay most dearly in their turn. So if you seek beneath our floors, A treasure that was never yours, Thief, you have been warned, beware of finding more than treasure there."

"Gringotts is one of the most safest places in the country, that is why we wizards and witches put so much trust in it, it has never been stolen from." They passed through into a vast marble hall. About a hundred more goblins were sitting on high stools behind a very long counter, scribbling in large ledgers, and weighing coins, gold, silver and bronze on oversized brass scales, examining precious stones like rubies and emeralds through eyeglasses. There were many doors - too many to count - leading off from the hall, and goblins kept showing people in and out of these. The three made their way to the counter, approaching a goblin.

"Good day to you." He said,

"Good day to you too sir," Luke replied causing both Minerva's eyebrows, and the goblin's to raise, neither used to such politeness towards a goblin, however Luke either did not pick up on, or did not comment on this, he instead continued, "We would like to convert some money, and also run an inheritance test on Harry to see whether he has any past links to the goblin world. I adopted him and we do not know much about his birth parents. If possible we would like these tests to be run in private, away from prying, nosy eyes." Luke asked the goblin respectively. The goblin nodded and jumped out of his chair,

"Follow me." He croaked in a gravelly voice gesturing at Luke and Harry but not Minerva, "You know how the tests go Professor, they must be done with only relatives." Minerva nodded and made her way to the waiting area and took a seat, and the father and son followed the goblin through one of the many doors.

* * *

The two followed the goblin down a corridor, and through an office door, the goblin took a seat behind the desk after getting some files out of a cabinet, and a small knife. He took Harry's hand and made a small cut in it, then let the blood drop onto the parchment. Harrry winced but didn't say a word, he just watched in fascination as the goblin cast some sort of spell over it. The goblin waited a few minutes before he looked sort of surprised,

"Hello Mr Potter," He said, "You are heir of Potter, heir of Gryffindor, heir of Peverell, you are heir of Slytherin by rights of conquest, and are in, but not heir of, the house of Evans, that is a matriarchal house and hence forth the heir must be female. You as of right now, do not have access to the Potter vault, but you do have access to the trust fund, your grandfather made it so that only once you are of sixteen years you may open the vault. Do you wish to see your vaults?" The goblin asked, Harry looked at Luke who nodded, then turned back to the goblin,

"Yes please."


	3. Hop Aboard the (Not so) Polar Express

**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, etc.**

 _Thanks for reviews, sorry for not updating_

The fact that Harry Reynolds was heir to two of the founders of Hogwarts, was, though he did not quite know it yet, a big deal, nor did he know that the Peverell family was, a prestigious and quite famed house. His vaults seemed to represent these facts, the first he visited was the Evans, as though he was not heir he was still a member of the house and hence still could enter it and take small amounts from it if approved prior or at the time. The Goblin who showed them around, Griphook, explained the process and structure of the ordering of the vaults, it was rather simple;

"When Gringotts first opened, it was not well trusted, for you Wizards," The small goblin scowled, "Did not trust us Goblins, the insulted us, our people, our customs, our language," Here the Doctor cut him off,

"I mean not to be rude but wish to know what language is your first language, as by what you are saying I believe it not to be English? Also is there some way of learning it," Luke asked,

Griphook looked up at him curiously, as if bewildered at the idea of a non-magical or a wizard learning the language, "Wizards call it Gobbledygook, but we take offence to that, as the correct definition of that is 'language that is meaningless or is made unintelligible by excessive use of technical terms', we call our language Glibeiko," Griphook's accent change for the word of their language, giving a small insight as to what he actually sounded like when not speaking a foreign tongue, Reynolds - the Doctor - nodded at this and gestured for Griphook to continue in his explanation of the vaults.

"See, we tried to make ourselves more of a part of society, but Wizards did not trust us, nor did centaurs, or pixies, or merpeople, they were not very accepting, however a few wizards decided to use our bank, the first being Merlin, then Morgana Le Fay, a couple others as well then soon the founders, Lords Godric Gryffindor & Salazar Slytherin, as well as Ladies Helena Hufflepuff & Rowena Ravenclaw, after these prestigious people from respected houses and joined, many followed suit, including Peverells, Ashtons - the ancestors of what is now known as Longbottoms, Blacks, and Gaunts. So, that is the simple order, first come first serve and best served, forever. Their vaults are the most protected of all.

The two Reynolds nodded at the explanations, as well as seeming a bit astonished at Harry's ancestors fame and how far his family tree seemed to go back. Now they had arrived at the Evans vault. It was numbered 2171, meaning it was relatively new, according to Griphook. The vault was quite small, it had neatly ordered bookshelves, and money neatly stacked up with a clear ordering system.

"What is the exchange from the gold ones to the pound coin?" Dr Reynolds asked Griphook,

"The Gold ones, or Galleons as they are called, are worth five pounds each, the silver coins are called sickles, and the bronze coins are knuts." the Goblin replied, causing the father and son's eyes to bulge, that was a lot of money.

Harry decided to not take anything from the vault, instead he just asked to see the other vaults, already choosing to take money from the Potter trust vault, for Hogwarts. He next saw the Peverell vault, which was similar to the Evans vault, but larger and more full, as well as there being more heirlooms and jewellery. He took just two books, about wizarding customs and laws. The Gryffindor and Slytherin Vault were both of a massive size, filled with galleons, and books, heirlooms, and more probably very expensive items, Harry took a book about the founders, Hogwarts, and history of his families and journals, From the Potter trust vault he took money, more than enough as he could, and would spend it on getting all the items required for Hogwarts and also spares for anything else he may need.

 **August 31st - A day before Harry goes to Hogwarts -**

Harry was all packed, to the point where even Hedwig - his snowy white owl who he'd named after a formidable lady written about in Gryffindor's journal (which he'd taken from the vault) - had owl treats neatly tucked away in a pocket.

Though, obviously, extremely excited, there was a huge amount of trepidation involved with this journey. For one, it would be the first time since the coma that Harry had been without Luke Reynolds (or other doctors and nurses) for over twenty four hours, and also he was scared, that somebody would find out about the coma, or he would get injured and they wouldn't treat him properly.

Nerves. Just nerves.

Hogwarts would be amazing, - the only comfort Harry could think of as of right now - but amazing covers a lot. Magic, - what more do you need to say - its magic, as in wand waving, abracadabra magic. There were owls, owls, as pets, used as messengers - and Harry had one! There was a secret platform onto the 'Hogwarts Express' hidden in London, Platform 9 and 3/4s. Plus, for the next seven years, as long as he didn't get expelled, he would (for the most part) be living in a castle - one which according to his inheritance, he owned a decent portion of. A castle with moving staircases, magical portraits which moved and spoke, and thousands of secrets, hidden passages, forgotten-about rooms, a whole wing, according to some book (with albeit a slightly dodgy source) which was unused, and haunted by the ghost of Salazar Slytherin's son.

See, Hogwarts would be amazing.

Luke Reynolds, however was not quite sure about this. His son, who had just woken up from a coma, perhaps was not fit for such a massive leap, he would endure a lot of stress and excitement, and he was scared that - medically - he was not fit for this, but the professor had told them of the outstanding medi-witch, and the close ties to the best magical hospital in Britain.

However a lot of the doubts was not just the part where he was scared that Harry was not fit for this, though reluctant to openly admitting this he was sad about Harry going, though the small time that they had been together, merely a few months (though it had felt like much longer), the two had developed a great bond, father and son, and Luke would miss Harry, who had soon become an integral part of his life, one he would miss dearly.

But the opportunity outweighed the downsides, it was magic, and the doctor was sure, that if their positions were swapped around that he too would be desperate to go to Hogwarts - he would be mad not to be.

 **The Next Day...**

"Alright Harry, well, be safe and take it easy, if I hear you are putting yourself in any sorts of danger, I will be marching over to the school and dragging you by the collar all the way home." Reynolds told him, though the words aggressive the tone warm and loving, full of care.

"Which you obviously won't be doing as I have had all the time wasted that I need already at the hospital," Quickly changing the topic, Harry continued, "As if you could catch me any way, old man." He teased,

"Rascal." Reynolds replied, before leaning down to hug the boy who had become his son so easily. "I'm going to miss you." He said shortly, Harry embraced his father back,

"I'm going to miss you too. However it is now 10:59," He anxiously said whilst glancing at his watch, "So I really have to go," Reynolds ruffled the former Potter's hair affectionately, and gently shoved him towards the train,

"Go learn magic!" Reynolds called after him incredulously, invoking a small smile from Harry as he disappeared into the train.

 **An/ That is all, sorry for shortness**


	4. Time to be Sorted

**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter**

The train ride was long, he'd sat with a bushy haired girl, Hermione Granger, and a slightly overweight, shy but nice boy, by the name of Neville Longbottom, Longbottom being a familiar name from his visit to Gringotts meant that it was probably quite an old family like his, and maybe somewhere up the tree they'd known each other. Harry had decided to ignore the Potter blood in him, he felt more like a Reynold anyways, and those sorts of reminders were not good for him, reminders of Vernon often pushed him into a nervous state, and without his father here to help, he didn't wish to trigger that.

The two had left after an hour to look for Neville's toad, Harry, truthfully, claiming the desire for sleep stayed in the cabin, he was interrupted sometime later by the apparent Malfoy heir, who look indignant that Harry did not know who he was. The boy after finding out Harry's name left with shouts of 'mudblood scum' and angry views about the allowance of them to go to Hogwarts.

Neville and Hermione returned, without Trevor the toad in hand, telling them about their own encounter with the Malfoy heir, and an encounter with a red head named Ron Weasley, he'd been sitting with a Dean and a Seamus and had apparently embarrassed himself with an odd spell.

The train ride ended, and Harry thought it could not have come soon enough. Whilst he liked Hermione and Neville, he found Hermione too overbearing, and still being reclusive since his time with the Dursleys, he decided that they were perhaps not the perfect match. Neville, on the other hand he emphasised with at lot, he could sense that Neville had most likely been bullied, or neglected in certain ways by family or by friends, he did not know the details, but with Neville he saw more of himself with in.

The three got lost in a large crowd bustling away from the current of people towards a large giant of a man with a big bushy beard and a lantern shouting "Firs' years over here," on repeat. He seemed to be looking around, glancing at people's faces curiously, as though looking for a specific person, but soon everyone had arrived and with disappointment the giant led them onto small wooden boats, "Four to a boat," Hagrid started shouting. Sharing a boat with, whom based on Neville and Hermione's earlier description was most likely Ron, Dean and Seamus, they quickly departed across an enormous lake.

The four sat in silence after a muffled exchange of names, shivering in the cold. They turned a corner and were presented by the sight of an enormous castle, with twinkling yellow lights in ever window, large turrets in the sky. There was a collective gasp of awe, and the view distracted the children from the cold. Suddenly they'd reached a harbour type area, and were being hurried into a room.

Harry smiled slightly at the familiar face of the stern McGonagall who nodded slightly at him, and a few others who she'd obviously also met prior to this day. "All here Hagrid?" She asked, revealing the giant's name, who replied with a yes, allowing her to take that as a signal to start an obviously well rehearsed speech, about Hogwarts, houses and them being their families, and the sorting.

It was very idealistic but Harry couldn't help but feel like it was slightly circumstantial. He'd earlier heard that there were four houses. One for the brave, one for the loyal, one for the cunning, and one for the smart. However in Harry's experience with the world, he knew that people couldn't easily be divided into brackets like that and be expected to get along 'like family'. There were many people he couldn't fit in to anyone of those. Vernon, for one.

Deciding to wait on his evaluation of the house system until he had some more experience of it Harry stood in silence, ignoring the whispers of Hermione recollecting her readings of spells, and Ron talking about fighting some troll. He took deep breaths like his father taught him to do when he was having an anxiety or panic attack, the deep breaths interrupted by screams and ghosts. Yes. Ghosts.

Well, to be fair, if you can be in a world where you can have goblins, and witches, and wizards, why on earth couldn't you have ghosts.

"Here for the sorting?" A friendly fat ghost asked, which seemed to Harry to be a bit of a stupid question, the answer was rather obvious, "Hope to see you in Hufflepuff,"

"Or Gryffindor." Another chipped in,

"Leave the first years alone," The only female ghost was heard saying as the passed threw the wall, "Stop scaring them."

Everyone was turning round to each other, about to speak when McGonagall's stern tones cut through the air. "We are ready for you now, you may follow me into the hall."

The hall, which they followed McGonagall into was enormous. There were four long tables, filled with plates and bowls, empty but ready to be filled. There were four banners, red, yellow, blue and green, and people in matching robes underneath, each table had one of the banners, segregation by houses, it seemed. Harry's thoughts about that were shaken away as someone exclaimed, "The ceiling!" in awe, awe which soon became a spread, 'the ceiling' if you can call it that was a deep sky, with no pollution, and hundreds of stars glistening, you could see Mars, and other planets, clearly as you could see, a hat? A hat. Sitting on a stool on a raised platform in front of another table, horizontally placed in contrast to the students' tables which were vertically placed, if you were looking at it from the door. Seeing Hagrid on the table Harry presumed it to be the teacher's table.

This theory was backed up by a chair, which could almost be described as a throne, but the chair wasn't the important detail. The man with a long white beard and half-moon glasses resting on the bridge of his nose, peering benevolently down at the amazed first years. Albus Dumbledore. Harry recognised him from some of the books he read, said to be one, if not the most powerful wizard of the time, defeater of Grindelward, a dark wizard back in the day. Now despite the fact that he seemed well over one hundred, you could still sense power radiating off of him. Caught staring by the man himself, Harry blushed and looked away, before realising that they were now stopping at the front of the hall, McGonagall walked over until she was next to the hat, who's mouth teared open and began singing.

Yes, you read that write, a singing hat.

He sang a song about the houses and their traits, as though advertising each to the students, as his mouth closed for the final time, all the students and teachers began clapping, allowing the first years to follow suit. The hat bowed at each of the houses, and then McGonagall caught the attention of all with the words, "Let the Sorting Begin."

The sorting commenced with Abbott, who became Hufflepuff, then there was Brown and Bones and more, until finally it was the Rs, Reynolds, Harry was called and he stepped forwards, trying to not show how nervous he was he walked up to the hat and put it on.

 _Hmm, you are an interesting one, disguising your true identity._

 _Oh my, oh my, you don't even know who you are yet, that will be an interesting one,_

 _Its going to give me so much enjoyment this year seeing Dumbles trying to figure out where Harry Potter is,_

 _Then realise he was right under his nose all along,_

 _Oh child you will give me so much amusement, I won't tell your secret,_

 _Now to my job... the sorting,_

 _You could fit in any house, brave, yes, loyal, yes, cunning, well obviously,_

 _I do however believe you will fit in most among the Claws, the smart ones,_

 _Alright Mr Reynolds, I have decided,_

"Ravenclaw!" The house shouted, and Harry took the hat off his head and walked down to the table amidst cheers from the 'Claws. However he was still very confused, the sorting hat knew his real name, and apparently knew a lot more about himself than even Harry did. This train of thought lasted until Blaise Zabini was sorted into Slytherin, and then it was interrupted by vast quantities of food appearing onto the table, alerting Harry to how hungry he really was. Making light conversation with Terry Boot and Lisa Turpin, Harry ate his food, pushing the question of who is Harry Potter, temporarily to the back of his mind.


End file.
